Category Archives: Bridges

Near Grand Rapids is the town of Ada. Rix Robinson built a trading post near present-day Ada in 1821 and made the first land purchase in 1833. A post office was established in 1837. Both the township and village settlement were named for Ada Smith, the daughter of the first postmaster. A Michigan historical marker proudly describes the history of the one of a kind bridge wooden bridge in Ada and it reads:

An act of the legislature in 1867 authorized Ada Township to borrow up to $3000 for the purpose of building or repairing bridges in the township. This bridge was built about that time, apparently by William Holmes. The design for the trusses was patented by Josiah Brown in 1857. A timber bearing his name was uncovered during repair work. The bridge has been threatened by floods a number of times. It is said that farmers used to drive wagons loaded with stone onto the bridge during high water to hold it to the foundation. The bridge was closed to automobile traffic in 1930 and restored by the Kent County Road Commission in 1941.

If you are ever in the area be sure to stop by and walk across the bridge. It is like walking back in time.

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When I first saw it, I was not sure if it was a bridge, dam or waterfall or a little bit of all three. On the Salmon Trout River near the town of Redridge is this massive steel structure. It has water flowing underneath and from its rusty girders, it looks as if it has been standing for a long time. It was one of only three steel dams of it’s type in the United States and it was constructed in 1901. The dam was built to create a reservoir for the Atlantic Stamping Mill in Redridge. The mill is gone but water still flows over the dam.

Redride is in the Keweenaw and west of Houghton, It’s not far from the ruins in Freda, you can read about them in my post HERE

If you are looking for places to explore this summer books are available on my websiteHERE or at Amazon HERE

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On US-12 in the town of Somerset Center is McCourtie Park. The park has some wonderful concrete bridges that span a little creek which flows through the park. A Historical marker tells the stories of these bridges and the park:

Somerset Center native W. H. L. McCourtie (1872 – 1933) was introduced to the cement industry by W. F. Cowham of Jackson in 1897. McCourtie soon went to Dallas, Texas, where he made a fortune speculating in oil and established the Trinity Portland Cement Company. During the 1920s McCourtie returned to Somerset Center. In 1924 he acquired his family’s home and turned it into a community showplace. McCourtie sought to create a model town. He gave free white paint to any home owner that needed it. He also hosted the community’s annual homecoming celebration. Thousands of people came to “Aiden Lair” to witness stunt flyers and enjoy baseball, local musicians, dancing and unlimited refreshments. At the height of the Great Depression, McCourtie offered his estate as a place “Where Friends Meet Friends and Part More Friendly.”

The W. H. L. McCourtie Estate may contain the country’s largest collection of el trabeio rustico, the Mexican folk tradition of sculpting concrete to look like wood. Around 1930, most likely inspired by work he had seen in Texas, cement tycoon W. H. L. McCourtie hired itinerant Mexican artisans George Cardoso and Ralph Corona to construct seventeen bridges on his property. The artisans formed the bridges with steel rods and then hand sculpted wet concrete to resemble planed lumber, rough logs, thatch, and rope. Different species of trees can be identified. Two concrete trees that stand on the property continue to serve as chimneys for the underground rathskellar and garage. The McCourtie estate is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

What the marker does not tell is that the estate included an underground lair and during prohibition, it operated as a speakeasy and even Al Capone was said to have visited it. After McCourtie died in 1933 the estate changed hands a few times but the owners were not able to maintain the property and in 1987 the township purchased the property and razed the house. It is now a park and if you are ever in the area be sure to stop by and visit it.

P.S. There is a lot more to the story but I think I am writing about it in Volume 3 of my Lost In Michigan books. If you are wondering I started working on it and hope to have it available this fall (September 2019). I was busy working on my Camp Michigan book which you can see HERE

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I was hanging out with these Canadian geese admiring the Fallasburg covered bridge. It’s a true piece of Michigan history that you can experience. I wonder what it would be like to ride across it in a horse and wagon. The Historical marker next to the bridge reads:

John W. and Silas S. Fallas settled here in 1837, founded a village which soon boasted a chair factory, sawmill, and gristmill. About 1840 the first of several wooden bridges was placed across the Flat River, but all succumbed in a short time to high water and massive spring ice jams. Bridge builder Jared N. Bresee of Ada was given a contract in 1871 to build the present structure. Constructed at a cost of $1500, the bridge has lattice work trusses made of white pine timbers. As in all covered bridges, the roof and siding serve to protect the bridge timbers from rot. Repairs in 1905 and 1945 have kept the bridge safe for traffic for one hundred years

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When I mention suspension bridge most Michiganders think of the Mackinaw Bridge with its tall white towers and green decking stretching across from the lower to the upper peninsula. There is another suspension bridge that crosses the Rifle River on the hiking trails in the Rifle River Recreation Area near Lupton.

Millions of motorists have crossed the ” Mighty Mac” but I wonder how many hikers have crossed this secluded little wooden bridge in one of Michigan’s serene state parks. If you haven’t explored the Rifle River Recreation, you should, you will never know what you might find.

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Every time I am in Mackinaw City I have to stop and get a pic of the Mighty Mac. I must have hundreds of photos of it, but it’s really hard to capture its immense size and awe-inspiring beauty in a single photo. Here is a pic I took last fall as the sun set on a beautiful northern Michigan day. I can’t wait to get back up to the straights again, as soon as I leave I want to go back.

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On my recent adventure around the thumb a few weeks ago, I found the historic town of Croswell. I have heard of the swinging bridge, but forgot all about it until I saw the sign as I drove into town. It was built in 1905 by the Michigan Sugar Company ( yes I can relate to the smell, I grew up in Carrollton) for their workers to cross the river to get to work. The original bridge had just two cables which were used to support the planks, I can’t imagine walking across it without anything to hold onto, my clumsy self would fall in for sure. I am thinking the origins of the signs ” Be good to your Mother In Law” and “love Ye One Another” that was at the other end is an attempt keep mischievous people from swinging the bridge. Eventually, Two more cables were added to provide a handhold.

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The Portage Lake Lift Bridge (officially the Houghton–Hancock Bridge) connects the cities of Hancock and Houghton, in the US state of Michigan, across Portage Lake, a portion of the waterway which cuts across the Keweenaw Peninsula with a canal linking the final several miles to Lake Superior to the northwest. US Highway 41and M-26 are both routed across the bridge.

The bridge is the world’s heaviest and widest double-decked vertical-lift bridge.More than 35,000 tons of concrete and 7,000 tons of steel went into the bridge, which replaced the narrow 54-year old swing bridge, declared a menace to navigation on the busy Keweenaw Waterway.Its center span “lifts” to provide 100 feet (30 m) of clearance for ships.

The original 1959 design by Hazelet and Erdal of Chicago of the bridge’s liftspan had roadways constructed on both levels with rails imbedded in the road surface on the lower deck. This allowed the span to be partially raised to allow small and medium boat traffic to pass underneath without disrupting vehicular traffic. From this middle position, the span would then only need to be raised for large ships or lowered to allow trains to cross. With the end of rail service in 1982, the lowest position is no longer needed to allow trains to pass so the bridge is not lowered below the middle position during the summer boating season except for periods of maintenance or repair. In the winter after the lake freezes, the bridge is placed in the lowest position to allow the lower deck to be used by snowmobile traffic

Autumn is such a magical time in Michigan, but it goes by so fast, and I never have as much time to enjoy it as I would like. I love the waterfalls in the U.P. but if you can make it up there to see them, there is place in the L.P. that few know about. Seven Bridges area between Kalkaska and Rapid City on Valley road is a beautiful place to walk around and take in the wonders of Mother Nature. It has a few small water falls some cute little foot bridges and several streams all in about an acre and it’s easy to walk around. If your a leaf peeper looking at the fall colors this is an excellent place to visit.

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